This invention is in the field of material handling, primarily related to the lifting and transporting of containerized cargo. Personal are included. A previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,220, dated Jul. 7, 1987, by Gabriel, also describes such a tongs-like lifting device for automatically loading and unloading containerized cargo. This invention has many improvements over the shovel-like device described in the previous patent. The weaknesses in the previous patent are overcome in this application. The improvements include hammerheads at the upper portions of the device for sustaining high horizontal forces produced by the cargo's weight; an extension spring to reduce the magnitude of the weights on top for automatic disengagement upon the load's touchdown; provision for using various size containerized loads by adding spacers or inflated pillows to the inside walls of the lower portions, and using a load with indentations at its bottom to accommodate the projections with sharp ends at the bottom end of the lower portions for scooping up the load.
In this design the entire cargo is scooped up by the apparatus instead of by a load cable. One should be reminded that sometimes loads do not have cables provided for a hook to attach to. When might such a cableless load occur? Such a situation might occur when trucks with loads are involved in highway accidents, in factory fires involving drums of toxic or hazardous materials, when ammunition boxes need to be moved without the presence of personnel at the scene, and in other cases when loads need to be moved and it is inconvenient to tie a cable to the load.
The shape of the lower portions could be made circular to enable cylindrical drums to be scooped up more easily and held in position. The teeth along the inside surfaces of the lower portions may be made blunt so they would not dig into a cylindrical load, causing possible damage to the container. Personnel also may be scooped up.
No such cargo handling apparatus is known to the applicant, with the improvements described in this application.